If you are a staff member at UniSA, you can easily make donations directly to the University or to other charities through payroll deductions.
Using UniSA's HR portal you can make a one-off donation, or commit to a regular donation and spread the amount across the year. The donation is made directly from your salary by Payroll Services, and the University adjusts the amount of tax to be withheld accordingly. This means you get the benefit of the tax deduction immediately.
“A little thing to do, that makes a big difference”
Professor Julie Mills, Executive Dean, UniSA STEM
Professor Julie Mills was inspired to support UniSA’s students through the Scholarship Fund years before she became an Executive Dean at UniSA. Since her time as a Program Director in Civil Engineering she has witnessed the true impact scholarships have on our students – many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“Over the years at UniSA I have gotten to know our students and have seen the difficulties so many of them have experienced.
“There are a couple of Civil engineering students in particular whose stories have stuck with me. Their determination through hardship motivated me to provide the extra encouragement often needed by our students.
“The first student was a humanitarian refugee who was in Australia with her mother and sisters. Within her first two years, she had learnt English, completed year 12, and enrolled into Civil Engineering. The scholarship made a huge difference to her, and to her family.
“The second was a rural student who had moved to Adelaide to study on campus. When I rang her to say that she had received the scholarship, she replied, ‘Thankyou so much, now I will be able to afford a fridge.’ She was sharing a small flat with her brother with hardly any furniture and only an esky to store food. I then realised just how much she had been struggling with her daily expenses, which were then compounded by the costs associated with relocating and studying.
“These are just two examples of many similar stories. We all know there are so many students at UniSA who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and struggle financially. As staff members, we all see the difference scholarships make in having the ability to achieve and being able to afford to continue their study until graduation.
“I hear so many staff say they value our equity mission at UniSA. Donating through Workplace Giving is such an easy way of truly supporting our UniSA community in a meaningful way.
“The donations automatically come out of our pay; you don’t even miss it. You just give what you can, it’s all relative.
“The more of us who do it, the bigger the difference will be.”
“I genuinely enjoy helping others”
Ben Evans, Program Services Manager, UniSA Business
As the Program Services Manager in UniSA Business, Ben Evans’ professional career is centered around the value of giving back and this philosophy has the same importance in his personal life too.
Ben has been donating regularly through UniSA’s Workplace Giving program since 2015, originally supporting Pridham Hall and now to cancer research at UniSA.
“I am a married father of three great kids. My world revolves around my family and friends, and I’m heavily involved in volunteering.
“I genuinely enjoy helping others when I can, not just with my time, but financially as well.
“Workplace giving is honestly, just a really easy way to do it. The ability to set the amount as a before tax deduction means that I can budget my take home pay without having to include the donation in my own budget.
“If you start with a modest amount you can actually forget that your donating at all, then when you get a thank you letter, or you see an article related to cancer research, you get those warm and fuzzies as you remember that you are contributing.
"You can also easily adjust your donation up or down depending on your own circumstances.
“I don’t know many people, including myself, who don’t have a cancer related story – it just impacts so many people in so many different ways.
“I am someone who will easily ‘get dust in their eyes’ when I read about family hardship or sick children and supporting cancer research is important to me.
“Early detection and overall treatment is vital, so the option of making a regular ongoing commitment to cancer research is an easy decision and one that I will try to always maintain.”
“The really good thing is that you can find the thing that means the most to you”
Justene Knight, Senior Consultant: Organisational Development, UniSA People, Talent and Culture
Growing up, Justene Knight didn’t think that going to university was a possibility for someone like her - a child with disabilities. After watching her mum, a solo parent, take a risk to follow her dream to train as a nurse - and be the first person in their family to go to university - she was inspired to also take the plunge.
Justene is now helping others to experience the same opportunities by donating to scholarships through UniSA’s Workplace Giving program.
“My partner encouraged me to apply to go to university and ignored my excuses about why I couldn’t do it, so I took the leap, and went on to get my masters by research.
“A few years later I won a position to work at UniSA and knowing that we are so committed – it’s in our DNA – to supporting people for whom University may only be a pipe dream (like me and like my mum) and help them to find their place, means a lot to me.
“I wanted to contribute to enabling other people to have the same opportunities to come to university.
“I had donated a couple of times to things like Pridham Hall and the Student Hardship fund, but I wanted to find a way to donate in a regular way.
“Weirdly it had never occurred to me that it doesn’t have to be large amounts – it can be a small sum – the price of a cup of coffee and a biscuit – but it builds up over the year and every little bit helps.
“I now choose to support the Refugee Scholarship because I want the students to know that here at UniSA we welcome you, we believe in you, and we know that you will make a huge difference to society – we just have to open the door and say ‘hi’.
“If you are thinking about donating through UniSA’s Workplace Giving program, my advice is do it, it’s super simple to set it up via payroll (seriously – simple!).
“The really good thing is that you can find the thing that means the most to you – be it cancer research or scholarships for students and know that 100% of your donation is going straight to where it needs to go.”
Regular donations quickly add up: if you donate just $15 each fortnight (the cost of a few coffees), then you will donate $390 over the full year, but the cost to yourself will be much lower (depending on your tax bracket - see the table below for examples).
| Taxable Income | Tax rate + Levies | Fortnightly pre-tax contribution | Net fortnightly cost to UniSA employee | Net annual cost to employee | Annual charity contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $18,201 - $45,000 | 21% | $10.00 | $7.90 | $205.40 | $260 |
| 21% | $25.00 | $19.75 | $513.50 | $650 | |
| 21% | $40.00 | $31.60 | $821.60 | $1040 | |
| $45,001 - $120,000 | 34.5% | $10.00 | $6.75 | $170.30 | $260 |
| 34.5% | $25.00 | $16.38 | $425.75 | $650 | |
| 34.5% | $40.00 | $26.20 | $681.20 | $1040 | |
| $120,001 - $180,000 | 39% | $10.00 | $6.10 | $158.60 | $260 |
| 39% | $25.00 | $15.25 | $396.50 | $650 | |
| 39% | $40.00 | $24.40 | $634.40 | $1040 | |
| $180,001 and over | 47% | $10.00 | $5.30 | $137.80 | $260 |
| 47% | $25.00 | $13.25 | $344.50 | $650 | |
| 47% | $40.00 | $21.20 | $551.20 | $1040 |
Example - $10 or $15 donation every fortnight, using ATO published tax rates as at 29 April 2021, plus 2% Medicare Levy for all rates. Note that individual calculation of cost to employees may vary from these examples, which do not account for your personal tax situation (i.e. any available tax offsets etc.). If you have specific queries about your personal tax situation, the University recommends you seek professional tax advice.
You can easily manage your donations yourself online in myHR, available within the myUniSA portal, accessible from the HR tab.
Select Requests, and then select Deductions from the drop-down options.
In myHR, select the new request button with the blue arrow.
Select the fund(s) you wish to support, then select the donation period from drop-down options.
UniSA provides several options for staff to support University research, infrastructure, and student scholarships, as well as selected external charities, including:
Help UniSA’s students by establishing a Prize, Grant or Scholarship in your name. Contact Advancement Services at giving@unisa.edu.au or call 830 27375.
Help give our brightest and best as well as our most challenged the opportunity to be recognised and supported. Your gift will be directed to five priority areas of education: equity, excellence, international, Aboriginal, and Women in STEM.
Every day UniSA’s experts are getting one-step closer to saving more lives as well as improving the quality of life for cancer survivors. Join UniSA's fight against cancer today.
Help transform the lives of our first responders and defence force personnel by supporting the Invictus Pathways Program, our one of a kind wellbeing, empowerment and sports program.
